Paul, you need to determine for sure if you have an alternator or a generator. They are absolutely totally different creatures. I suspect that an 01 Eagle would have a generator as opposed to an alternator unless somebody has changed it out at some time for the newer alternator type device. An easy way to tell is if there is a removable band at the rear and that under the band are some large brushes. If so, then it is a generator. Richard

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Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body. But rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, a good Reisling in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming: WOO HOO, what a ride

All along I thought it was a generator. My manual says differant. It sure looks like a generator. I will check it out tomorrow, going to a wedding today so I don't have the time, darn. LOLIf indeed it is a generator, what size alternator is best, and I assume I would have to make a bracket to mount to the 8v71 block. Or am I looking for trouble installing one in this old system, making lots of modifications etc..

They look similar. If you actually have to replace it, then you should try and replace it with an alternator. Richard

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Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body. But rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, a good Reisling in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming: WOO HOO, what a ride

The reason a 6V relay is used is so it always has full voltage. If you use a 12V relay and the voltage drops below 12V it may not stay energized.

I am really having trouble coming to grips with this statement.

Typically a 12 volt relay will energize at 10 volts or below and stay energized at 9 volts or less. Since the engine would not crank at a low voltage, then there should always be enough voltage to pull in a control relay if there was enough voltage initially to start the bus.

A six volt relay subject to a continuous 12 volts or higher, depending on the charge rate, would have a seriously reduced life expectancy.

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Electric dash panel gages on older cars used a voltage reducer so all the gages would always have steady voltage to give accurate readings should the input voltage fluctuate. Most reduced 12V to 5V.

6 volt ignition systems reduced the voltage to 5 volts thru a dropping network to the instruments. I do not know what the 12 volt systems do.

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The coil on 12V gasoline engines is actually a 6V.

The engine is only started with 12 volts on a 6 volt coil to produce a hotter spark. When the ignition key is in the start position. Once the key is returned to the run position the voltage to the coil is routed thru a dropping resistor to drop the coil input voltage to 6 volts.At least this is the way I understand it.Richard

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Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body. But rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, a good Reisling in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming: WOO HOO, what a ride

Richard: This is part of my reason for asking what kind of an alternator he has. If he is using a DN50 with an R Terminal the relay being discussed is probably the relay that senses output by taking a half wve rectified voltage from the coils before the power diodes. This gives a voltage that is one half the normal output voltage. On an MCI bus this relay is used to interlock the A/C system so that the big motors won't discharge the engine batteries if the alterator is not charging.

This whole thread seems to have a lot of confusion over relays and voltage regulators and alternators and generators. We have to waiit for Dreamscape to come back with more data and then walk him through his wiriing diagram. He says he has good electrical knowledge so it should be easy to get him going on the right track.

I just tried to post a couple of photos of this topic. I clicked on the image icon, did not have a box to go to "Browse" to upload picture from my computor. All I got was [img] on the page. I even read through help. It shows how to in the Pictures of Buses page, but not in the Post reply page.

What am I doing wrong? I even tried to copy and paste, that did not work either.

I just tried to post a couple of photos of this topic. I clicked on the image icon, did not have a box to go to "Browse" to upload picture from my computor. All I got was [img] on the page. I even read through help. It shows how to in the Pictures of Buses page, but not in the Post reply page.

What am I doing wrong? I even tried to copy and paste, that did not work either.

Paul

Paul, Don't use the image icon. That is for posting a photo that is hosted on another website, not to post a photo on this site.Instead, go to make your post and when you are done typing, look at the bottom left corner and you will see, "Additional Options" Click on that and you will find the browse button.

I took the pictures yesterday but they were too big to attach. Tried to resize them using Googles Picaso, could not find how to do that. Then I just ran out of time. I will not be able to get back to it until late this week. A little R and R at Huntington Beach this week with the wife.Thanks for all the help so far gentlemen Bus Nuts.

I took the pictures yesterday but they were too big to attach. Tried to resize them using Googles Picaso, could not find how to do that. Then I just ran out of time. I will not be able to get back to it until late this week. A little R and R at Huntington Beach this week with the wife.Thanks for all the help so far gentlemen Bus Nuts.

Paul

Paul,

If you still need to have more help with resizing or posting, just send the photo's to one of the moderators. We are all willing to help in any way we can.